Soler To Sign With Bucs?
Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News reports today that Alay Soler is expected to sign a minor league deal with the Pirates.
Perhaps Soler will join fellow Cuban defector Yuslan Herrera at Double A Altoona. The Bucs gave Herrera a three-year deal back in November. The Pirates also expanded their international horizons by signing 38 year-old Japanese reliever Masumi Kuwata in December.
Latest On Jorge Julio
The latest word on $3.6MM reliever Jorge Julio is that the Diamondbacks don’t intend to pick up any of his salary. Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel speculates that the Marlins are showing public interest in Julio "as a way of forcing the Giants’ hand in an Armando Benitez deal." The Giants countered by inquiring on Julio as well.
Rodriguez also mentions that the Marlins and Larry Beinfest have some past history of trading or attempting to trade for Julio.
Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post says the Giants would pay more of the $3.6MM than the Marlins, but the D’Backs covet Florida’s Yusmeiro Petit.
From the Arizona side, Nick Piecoro writes that more teams than just the Giants and Marlins are interested. He believes Julio will start the season with Arizona, though.
That there is this much action on a guy who hasn’t had an impressive season since 2002 just shows how desperate teams are for relief help.
Schilling Clears The Air
Curt Schilling has a lengthy post on his blog explaining his situation this spring regarding the Red Sox and his 2008 contract.
It sounds like there were no hard feelings. Schilling surprised the Red Sox by indicating his intention to play in ’08, and the Sox are unwilling to commit $13MM of their free cash to the 40 year-old before seeing him pitch this year. If it was for less money, the deal might’ve been done.
Schilling will hit the market after this season and take the best offer, Yankees not included. The Sox could still bring him back and are his first choice.
I am curious what price would compel the Red Sox to commit now. In a world where 32 starts of crap are worth $7-8MM, it doesn’t seem a stretch for a rich team to overpay a little on a one-year commitment.
Olney: Boston Tracking Lidge
In his blog today, Buster Olney mentioned that the Red Sox are still interested in Houston closer Brad Lidge. This rumor dates back to July.
Lidge’s control and HR rate slipped last year, though he was still dominant in terms of racking up strikeouts. Olney indicates that the Astros aren’t shopping him and the Red Sox would have to overpay, perhaps with Jacoby Ellsbury, Craig Hansen, and more.
Additionally, Peter Gammons mentioned a couple days ago that Chad Qualls might be a target for Boston.
Rosenthal’s Latest
The tireless Ken Rosenthal is back with some new rumors; below is a brief summary.
- In addition to Armando Benitez, the Giants are looking to trade bench guy Mark Sweeney. Sweeney makes $950K this year and his presence on the team is redundant.
- If the Red Sox don’t have room for Kyle Snyder, they’ll surely trade him as he’s out of options. In addition to the aforementioned Marlins and Nationals, the Reds are interested.
- At RotoAuthority yesterday I mentioned Jon Huber as a possible sleeper closer in Seattle if J.J. Putz‘s injury is serious. The Mariners have a history of rushing top prospects, so Brandon Morrow is another possibility to jump into the role by summertime.
- The Bucs have some needs: right-handed hitting backup OF, veteran right-handed reliever, and left-handed hitting backup IF. The Twins and Cubs are also in the market for a backup infielder.
- The Marlins could acquire Angel Pagan from the Cubs, perhaps sending Robert Andino back. Sure, why not.
A Little Help: Indians
More rumors, news, and analysis is always a good thing. Today I’m looking for someone to represent the Cleveland Indians.
What am I looking for in this person?
- Solid writing skills and a style that fits with MLBTradeRumors. Basically, I’ll know it when I see it. I’m looking for the same type of analysis you see here every day.
- Someone who can post up-to-the-minute Indians rumors as they surface. I want a person who follows the Tribe religiously and will have every source (traditional newspapers, high quality blogs, radio) covered. It would make sense to have all the pertinent websites on an RSS reader. You should be near a computer most times and able to hop on and write a post if something happens.
- While this person is probably an Indians fan, objective analysis is preferred. Additionally it would be nice to provide the local vibe/sentiment that people might otherwise not know about. That might sound contradictory but I don’t think it is.
- The benefit to you: a decent-sized audience and a chance to do a little sportswriting. It could be a nice resume-builder and I would be happy to serve as a reference for you. And I will give you some insight on how I do what I do, for what that’s worth.
- Build your audience: within reason, you can link to your own blog or website and gain some new readers.
- Email me at mlbtraderumors@gmail.com if this interests you and explain why you’re the best candidate. I’ll choose one person and unfortunately won’t be able to reply to all. A sample post of a rumor/signing (whether fake or true) might help make your case. Note: long-winded posts are not my style! Brevity is a plus – I like 3-4 paragraph posts.
NOTE: Please don’t contact me about doing this for other teams. I just want an Indians person at the moment.
Marlins Interested In Jorge Julio
In a move that has serious implications for fantasy geeks everywhere, the Marlins sent a scout yesterday to watch Diamondbacks reliever Jorge Julio pitch. As you know, the Fish have an unsettled closer situation with Kevin Gregg, Matt Lindstrom, Henry Owens, and Taylor Tankersley candidates to earn the gig when the season begins.
Among pitchers with 60 IP last year, Julio’s 12.0 K/9 ranked fifth, right between Takashi Saito and Francisco Rodriguez. If Marlins pitching coach Rick Kranitz could help Julio get his BB/9 down around 3, he could be quite an asset. Pitching in Dolphin Stadium as opposed to Chase Field would cut down on his troublesome HR rate.
The main sticking point would be figuring out how to divy up Julio’s $3.6MM salary. Julio would be the third highest-paid Marlin behind Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.
UPDATE: The Giants are now in on Julio, who is essentially a younger version of Armando Benitez. The Giants would take on more of Julio’s salary than the Marlins, but parting with Yusmeiro Petit might seal the deal for Florida. And to think, Petit was traded for Carlos Delgado a year ago.
Marlins, Mariners Interested In Benitez
This morning, Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel mentioned that the Marlins had two scouts on hand for Armando Benitez‘s Tuesday night appearance. The Fish would’ve sent scouts to his first appearance but the Giants didn’t give them a heads up.
Berardino talked to a scout who had Benitez at 92-94 mph and looking loose. Berardino speculates that the Marlins would only need to pay about a million of Benitez’s $7.6MM salary. Are the Giants that desperate to get rid of him despite their questionable bullpen?
Then John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer mentioned today that the Mariners also had two scouts at the game. Benitez would be used to set up J.J. Putz. The Mariners are said to find Jeremy Reed and Ben Broussard expendable. For Reed, I think the Giants should make the deal. Hickey mentioned that 40 scouts were at the game because it was the only one in town. So we could probably connect Benitez to most clubs at this point.
Maybe the three clubs can work something out where Reed ends up a Marlin?
UPDATE: According to the Boston Herald, the Red Sox have never talked to the Giants about Benitez.
UPDATE 2: The Mariners are out on Benitez. This is like the Juan Gonzalez denials or something. John Hickey says the Giants won’t even swallow half of Benitez’s salary, which contradicts other reports that suggested they’d eat over 85% of it.
Phillies Correspondent Found
I am happy to announce that Tom Goyne is joining MLBTradeRumors.com as our Phillies correspondent. Tom’s written for the Hardball Times, and he also has a popular Phillies blog called Balls, Sticks & Stuff. Check it out.
Tom can be reached at ballssticksstuff at ballssticksstuff dot com.
Thanks to all those who applied, and hopefully you will apply again if I start up a separate Phillies blog.
Odds and Ends
AllCubs.com discusses the Mark Prior saga. It was interesting to see two very similar articles in two different newspapers this morning (Mariotti and Ladewski). Of course, the Sun-Times and Daily Southtown are owned by the same company, so maybe it was a corporate mandate. I don’t understand the argument for the Cubs to cut ties with Prior and/or Wood. Because they remind you of 2003? These guys aren’t expensive right now, so if there’s a 10% chance they help you, you keep them around. The Cubs aren’t poor. Any argument to release or trade these guys at 0.50 on the dollar so we can all "move on" is just irrational.
The big story today is Pete Rose admitting to betting on the Reds every night as their manager. He’s pretty careful to make sure we realize it was every single night. If he took even one night off from betting, his gambling had a detrimental effect on the team overall. That’s because you’d expect him to save his players for the games on which he did bet. For me, it’s not just the gambling with Rose…it’s all the lying.
RotoAuthority remembers 2005, which may help you find some undervalued players for your draft this Sunday.